The invention relates to a felting needle.
Felting needles are used for the production of felt and fleece materials and punched in quickly repeated sequence through the fleece material to strengthen the fleece of tangled fibers. As a result, the fibers in the fleece are intertwined and the fleece is further compacted.
In principle, felting needles suitable for this purpose are known from document DE 21 01 769 A1. This document discloses felting needles comprising a straight working part as well as a screw-type working part. The working part extends along a straight center axis and has a triangular or square cross section. The edges of the working parts are provided with indentations.
In the non-compacted state, the fiber fleece to be compacted with the felting needles can consist, for example, of several layers of fibrous web in which the fibers are respectively arranged in one preferred direction. If a fibrous web of this type is compacted, for example, with the straight felting needles according to document DE 21 01 769 A1, different tearing or breaking resistances result for the most part in longitudinal and lateral direction, which is undesirable. On the other hand, if felting needles with twisted operating parts are used, such as the ones known from document DE 21 01 769 A1, the twisting of the operating parts results in larger punching holes and a lower efficiency of the needle-felting process.
As is known from U.S. Pat. No. 461,602, attempts have been made, using felting needles with straight as well as twisted working parts, to increase the needle-felting efficiency by providing each edge with indentations facing in opposite directions. This measure, however, fundamentally changes the sequence of the needle-felting process and thus for the most part has an undesirable influence on the appearance of the needle-felted product.
Starting from this, it is the object of the present invention to create a felting needle, which makes it possible to produce with high efficiency fleece and felt materials, for which the differences in the tearing resistances in the various surface directions are reduced.